


Coda

by VMorticia



Series: Cause and Effect [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 14:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20950007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VMorticia/pseuds/VMorticia
Summary: After the Endgame, Steve Rogers makes a choice.





	Coda

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own as much as Jon Snow knows. Characters' opinions are not necessarily a reflection of the author's.
> 
> Many thanks to my assistant writer, editor, and nightmare fuel shoveller, [Nimbus Llewelyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimbusLlewelyn/pseuds/NimbusLlewelyn).

\---

There were five timelines affected by the Time Heist: the original; the one the Space Stone and Pym particles were taken from; the one the Mind and Time Stones were taken from; the one the Reality Stone and Mjolnir were taken from; and finally, the one the Power and Soul Stones were taken from.

In the second and fourth of these timelines, nothing really changed, once their respective Stones and borrowed artefacts were returned. After the Vanished were restored, Hank Pym had supplied Steve Rogers with vast quantities of Pym particles, both to make sure he was more than prepared for the journey ahead, and to replace the stolen particles in that other timeline... thus, everything that was borrowed had been accounted for.

In the fifth, Thanos disappeared, sparing that timeline from his conquest. A significant change, but hardly a bad one. There was no fixing it, either way, so it had to be allowed to diverge from the main timeline.

In the third, however... Loki had escaped the Avengers with the Tesseract.

That was a complication. Like the fifth, it was beyond bringing back into line with the original timeline. Even if Loki could be caught, and returned to Asgard, along with the Tesseract, too much else had been changed in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. In hindsight, their initial plan to acquire the Space and Mind Stones had been deeply flawed: Steve's encounter with his past self, Stark's heart-attack, HYDRA... with all that in mind, it was arguable that Loki - a wildcard on a good day - loose with the Tesseract was not necessarily the worst of these changes.

Steve could not, in good conscience, leave an entire near-identical universe to the same terrible fate that nearly claimed his own. The way he saw it, if there was a wildcard in play, why not try to turn it to his advantage? He had heard many of Thor's stories about his and Loki's adventures over the years before the Snap, and in all of them one thing had been made quite clear: Loki had some goodness remaining within him. Primarily, it had been love for his mother, but that hadn’t been all. He had eventually learned from his mistakes and become a good man by the end.

Steve had the technology to track Infinity Stones, and he had the quantum GPS to instantaneously move from any point in the multiverse to any other. It was ludicrously easy to catch up to Loki, even with the Tesseract in the god of mischief's hands.

Loki had fled to a world Steve didn't recognise; a vast plain of barren, windswept black soil, with the only light a red aurora along the horizon, filtering weakly through clouds of choking smoke. The chains he wore were inhibiting his movements, but he was in the process of trying to remove the gag, first. That spoke of his priorities, in a way. Were he in Loki's position, Steve would have tried to free his hands first. Then again, Steve supposed that he probably hadn’t expected to be followed. Loki had just succeeded in removing the gag, when he spotted Steve.

Loki took one look at him, shock clearly written across his face - Steve was unidentifiable as anything more than humanoid, in the quantum suit, but that could have made Loki's fear of pursuit even greater - and used the Tesseract to teleport away again. Steve followed. This time they arrived in a forested area, which looked like it could almost have been earth... if the sky hadn't been purple, instead of blue.

Loki noticed him again, immediately this time, and teleported again.

The next world was so cold that Steve felt like he was freezing to the bone, even through the protection of the quantum suit, and he wasn’t prepared to risk Loki putting his durability to the test with other, more exotic locations. More to the point, he had also grown tired of the chase, and each new jump used up an entire vial of Pym particles, of which he only had a limited supply.

So his next jump, he programmed to come in much closer to Loki. It was a risky move: if Loki knew to reach out where Steve meant to arrive, it could easily kill him in the landing. He didn't waste any time in observing the scenery, and instead grabbed Loki around the chest and immediately jumped out again, dragging Loki with him, back to Earth.

He picked the first location he could think of - an abandoned military facility he knew all too well. Not one of these jumps had been through time; doing so would have generated another new timeline, and that would have just made everything worse, so they were still in 2012, and so the base had not yet been destroyed, though it was currently abandoned.

He managed to knock the Tesseract out of Loki's hand as they landed, and placed himself between the 'god' and his prize.

Loki glared bitterly, glancing at the Tesseract and clearly debating if he should try to reach it. But he also seemed off-balance, and quite shaken from his unprotected trip through the Quantum Realm. Even Thor had been wise enough to use the suit when travelling that way, but Steve had also known the Asgardians _ could _ survive it. In spite of the cruelty of it, he felt it was better to deal with a stunned and weakened Loki on Earth, rather than face him at full strength on some unknown alien world. For one thing, as their original encounter in Stuttgart had demonstrated, leaving all his other capabilities aside, Loki packed a wallop.

"I _ never _ want to travel that way again," Loki all but hissed, still glaring at Steve. Clearly, this was the reason he wasn't taking the chance at reaching for the Tesseract just yet.

Steve finally removed the helmet of his quantum suit, revealing his identity.

"You? Really? But how?" Loki stepped closer, wary yet still wanting a better look at him. "You're not him, are you? This is a trick." 

"I'm not the Steve Rogers you just saw in New York," he admitted. "But only because people change over time."

Loki's eyes narrowed at that. But there was also a hint of curiosity in those eyes, and he relaxed slightly - albeit only slightly. "What you're implying is impossible," he said, though with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"I'm happy you think so," Steve said, with a faint chuckle. It would be quite terrifying to imagine that someone like Loki knew how to time-travel. "But it is true. I'm from the future. Well... _ a _ future."

Loki scoffed.

"I know who gave you the Sceptre, and why," Steve said bluntly. "And the more we've had time to think about it, and from what I've heard about your actions since then, in my timeline, the more I think you were under its influence yourself. A good blow to the head freed Clint... maybe the Hulk freed you?"

Loki's eyes darted to the side, as he clearly took the time to think about that, and the slight nod he gave after a few seconds seemed almost subconscious. His body-language shifted to defensive, as well, arms folded and shoulders hunched in a way that didn't really suit him.

"The Tesseract needs to return to Asgard," Steve continued. "But I've got an offer for you, in exchange."

Loki snorted. "Really? And what could you possibly offer me?"

"Depending on your perspective, a far greater power," Steve answered honestly. "Knowledge."

Loki did seem interested. "What? Of this future you claim to be from?"

"Exactly," Steve said. "I know how you die."

Loki's eyes widened at that, but only for a moment, before he quickly dismissed it. "And why would you trust me with this?" Everything in his tone said he didn't believe a word of it, but he still asked what the catch was regardless.

"I've nothing to lose by offering you this," Steve said with a shrug. "Nothing you do in this timeline will affect mine. Besides, I don't need to trust you to know you'll use this information for your own personal gain... and I'm fairly sure that will be to the benefit of the rest of this timeline as well, because you already know the threat it's facing."

Loki blinked, staring at him apprehensively. "Thanos."

"You're terrified of him, aren't you?"

Loki looked away. That as good as answered the question. Then after a moment's pause, he asked, "Why me? You could easily just take the Tesseract and leave me, or drag me to Asgard as well, for whatever 'justice' Odin thinks I deserve."

Steve smiled, sincere and non-threatening. "Why would I do that? You're powerful, intelligent, extremely dangerous. You'd make a good ally, if you wanted to."

"Ah, but there's the catch," Loki mocked him. "_ 'If I wanted to.' _ I don’t know what you think you know about me, Captain, but right now I do not feel like making a good ally to anyone."

Steve just stared at him for a second, before meeting Loki’s gaze with his calmest and most implacable look. "Well if _ I _ wanted to," he said mildly. "I could just go back to New York and get that Sceptre again. I could force you to do the right thing." He let those words hang in the air, trying to ignore a faint twinge in his conscience as Loki visibly flinched at his words; a flinch that reminded him very much of Bucky whenever he’d been reminded of what HYDRA did to him. "But that's not my style. I believe in choice; free will. Even aside from ethics, the control of the Sceptre isn't guaranteed to last once I leave this timeline, and even if it would, it seems like a good blow to the head breaks it easily enough. In the long run, it would be counterproductive."

Loki eyed him, a wry smile playing around his lips. "You really aren't the man I met in Stuttgart, are you?" he said. "He was almost painfully naive - a gifted commander, an inspiring leader, much like my brother, but he didn’t know how to play this kind of game. Someone taught you. Romanov, perhaps?"

Steve tried to conceal a flinch of his own, but either long experience hadn't been enough to cover up such a raw wound, or Loki was even more perceptive than Steve gave him credit for - and Steve gave him a _ lot _of credit in this regard.

"Ah," Loki said, and to Steve’s mild surprise, there was a hint of sympathy in his voice. "So, that is why you were willing to go so far, to risk so much."

"Part of it," Steve said, after a moment. "We won, in the end. But we lost people. Not as many as we could have - nowhere near as many as you might argue we should have. But yes. We lost people. Natasha was one of them."

Loki stared at him for a long moment, those piercing green eyes unreadable, before he nodded abruptly. "Fine. I accept your offer. You take the Tesseract, and tell me of the 'future'... but I can't promise what I'll do with the information once you give it to me."

Steve smiled. "Good enough. I hear you have a talent for mind-reading."

"Not while I'm wearing these." Loki held up his hands, expectantly. Thor had told them nothing about these chains, but it had generally been assumed they could bind Loki's magic. Apparently that was true.

Steve stepped closer, and examined the chains carefully. "How do I open them?"

"Anyone who isn't the wearer can just pull that latch, in the middle," Loki answered. That seemed an oddly lax form of security, but he supposed Asgard must do things differently.

Steve nodded. "Try anything funny, I've got this thing programmed to take us to Asgard's throne room. And yes, I know that would kill me, but you know what it'll do to you, too."

Loki actually smirked. "I never expected you, of all people, to corner me," he said, sounding almost amused, before watching intently as Steve unlocked the chains, letting them fall to the ground. After making a dramatic show of rubbing his wrists, Loki hesitantly raised one hand to Steve's face, and on receiving a slight nod of assent, press his index and middle fingers to Steve’s temple.

The telepathic contact was not as he expected. He had expected it to feel violent, painful even. It was not. It was also very easy for him to recognise the difference between Loki's thoughts and his own. Loki's presence in his mind was surprisingly passive, and accompanied by a sense of trepidation, as though Loki were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

His brief moment of surprise was interrupted by a mental nudge from Loki, telling him to get on with it, and he carefully began internally reciting/reliving the last eleven years of his life. The memories flew by in a blur, and when required, he also provided historical references, when he knew relevant details that weren't made clear in the moment. He would prefer to give too much information, and be sure this universe was given its best chance, rather than risk missing something important.

The only valuable information he withheld was how to work the quantum-travel technology Stark had invented. If Loki wanted that, he would need to try to earn this timeline's Stark's trust, and get it from him... the odds of success there were slim, and it was better for the fate of the multiverse that way.

Loki followed the memories all the way up to Steve's arrival on that barren world mere minutes ago, before he broke the connection and took a step back away from Steve, eyes closed as he seemed to take a moment to process it all. The last thing Steve got from the telepathic link was Loki's sense of awe that a mere human had been the one to end the Mad Titan.

"That was... _ thorough _," Loki said with a slightly shaky laugh. "I really was expecting a trick, but it's nearly impossible to lie telepathically," he added almost to himself, before finally looking at Steve again. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"You're the evil genius," Steve said with a slight smirk. "Plans upon plans, always scheming. The legends call you the god of lies, because you're the one who can keep all the stories straight in your head. Maybe you can make sense of the timelines, as well: find the best possible outcome; for everyone, including yourself."

Loki nodded slowly, the smile that now appeared on his face reaching his eyes as well, as he clearly began putting a plan together. "You do realise that the other you is almost certainly going to hate this."

Steve also smiled, nodding. "I figured," he said. "But that doesn't matter." His smile faded and he met Loki's gaze. "Whatever it takes."

Loki nodded, before echoing his words, their significance seared into his mind with Steve's memories. "Whatever it takes."

\---


End file.
